Zika Virus

[Inwaiting]

Hi everyone

I'm due to travel to Dominican Republic next week. I'm really confused as to whether the advice is not to travel or not. What should I do? Will my GP be able to advise me or should I phone midwife?

Thanks in advance xxx

I would seek medical advice to be honest Citymole.

They won't offer refunds from what i understand though.

I have had good news this morning in that my insurance company are going to pay out completely as they see it as a right to cancel. First choice will only offer us alternatives which isn't acceptable as the alternatives are cape verde which already has breakouts already. So although the holiday is cancelled my baby is safe and that is the most important thing!

I just got back from a trip to Brazil - husband and I had to cut our honeymoon short when we received a phone call from my dad about the Zika virus! We were there from 11th to 19th of January, literally 1week before it exploded in the global western news! (Though Brazilian authorities had known about it for some time)

Now awaiting blood test results to see if I was infected or not, as I was bitten by a couple of mosquitos!

The thing is the blood tests are not 100% reliable and there is no real way of knowing if baby was affected or not till late third trimester by scanning brain size, or at birth with regards to potential blindness and deafness! So little is known about the virus, I have been informing hospital staff about it who haven't even heard of it before! Beyond sending my bloods off to be tested, the only advice my midwife has been able to offer me to date is 'try not to worry!'

Honestly ladies, it is not a nice situation to be in that your baby could be born with a brain half the size it should be and no way of knowing till week 36!

I say - looking at how fast the virus is spreading, I would say avoid anywhere hot, with mosquitos for the whole duration of your pregnancy if you don't want to end up in my situation!

So sorry you're going through this lovely. I read somewhere that they should be able to detect at 24 weeks?

I saw my GP today and she was really reallt helpful and had done so much research prior to my appointment. Could you do the same?

From what I gather from Insurance is so fast spreading that they're trying to cope with it on a day to day basis. There has been three outbreaks confirmed in UK - could you try and contact those hospitals as they may be able to help you a bit more. There is also a specialist tropical disease hospital in London which may be able to give you some advice.

I wouldn't rely just on midwife

Here is a patient information leaflet on Zika virus in pregnancy produced by the UK teratology information service (I work there!). It was updated yesterday so contains all of the most up to date info. Feedback very welcome

www.medicinesinpregnancy.org/Medicine--pregnancy/Zika-virus/